Page 67 of Close Your Eyes

CHAPTER 67

OLIVIA – D AY F IVE

‘You are going to have to drive the car.’ He barks this at me as he kicks the main door open, the gun in his hand.

‘I can’t do that. You know I can’t.’ It’s been years since my lessons.

‘You can and you will, Olivia.’ He throws me the car keys from his pocket. ‘Chloe, come here and walk in front of your grandad.’

‘No, Chloe. You stay where you are.’ I move to pull her close to me but he’s faster. Grabs her arm and wrenches her towards him, the gun lifted. Cocked ready now.

Chloe, face white, bursts into tears as he pulls her in front of him. ‘Mummy!’

‘It’s OK, darling. It’s going to be OK.’

We are back where we were with Amelie. Once more I have no idea how to stop this. So afraid he will shoot.

‘She’s ill. Chloe’s ill . And they said they wouldn’t hurt us, Dad. Any of us. We just have to go outside with our hands up.’

‘No, Olivia. He’s saying we have to get away from here now.’

‘ Who’s saying that?’

My father winces. Narrows his eyes. ‘Shut up. Shut up. I’m listening.’ A pause, his forehead furrowed. Face twisted. ‘You two have to do as I say. We are going to walk to the car. You are going to drive. And I am going to sit in the back. That is what is happening. Chloe – you start walking towards the car.’

‘Mummy. What do I do? What do I do?’

I see it now. He is mad. Lost. But he knows they will not shoot him if he has the gun on Chloe.

‘Do as he says, darling. I will be right behind you.’

‘I can’t move, Mummy. I’m too tired. I can’t do it.’

‘Yes you can, my darling. I am right behind you.’

At last Chloe steps from the caravan, my father behind her pointing the gun. ‘You walk alongside me, Olivia. Nice and slow. No silliness.’

The fresh air is a shock. And the brightness. The stretch of sky. The green of everything. Trees. Fields.

I see now that the caravan is in a dip in a field. Woods to our left. A line of trees shielding the view to the fields ahead of us. There are police vehicles over by the trees. I see several armed police, holding different positions. I will them not to shoot. Fix my eyes back on Chloe.

‘Keep walking, Chloe. Over to the car.’ My father’s head is twitching as he speaks.

I feel for the fork in my pocket. Dare I? And then Chloe, so clearly still unwell, suddenly collapses to the ground. I twist my body and this time I do it. I kick the shotgun from his hand. Upwards. And at the same time stab at his face with the fork. The gun goes off instantly.

I dive towards Chloe, to cover her body on the ground with mine. But my father is fast. Face bloodied, he stretches left. Has the gun back in his hand again and there is a shot.

And for a time I cannot tell, in the blackness of this moment as I arch my body over Chloe and the sound explodes inside my head, whose gun has fired.

Who has been hit.